Because of that, Voorhees was spared the storm’s wrath. Around it, particularly north, the damage was extensive. Among the more trivial consequences of the storm’s havoc was the delay until this week of the start to New Jersey’s high-school football playoffs.

The Ohio State-bound cornerback’s Eastern High School will play in a sectional quarterfinal game. (New Jersey has four sectionals but not a state championship.)

“I’m extremely excited,” Woodard said. “This is the first time Eastern has been in the playoffs since I can remember. We definitely want to make the most of it.”

While Woodard’s attention is focused on the present, he’s just as excited about relocating to Columbus. He is taking classes at a local community college to finish his graduation requirements and will enroll at Ohio State in January.

“I can’t wait,” he said.

Along with Trotwood Madison’s Cam Burrows, Woodard gives Ohio State an enviable cornerback tandem for the 2013 recruiting class. The appeal of the Buckeyes for an Ohio kid like Burrows is easy to understand.

Woodard has no obvious Ohio State connection. It turns out that former Buckeyes assistant Darrell Hazell sparked Woodard’s interest in Ohio State. Hazell coached at Rutgers when Woodard went to a camp there as a kid. When Hazell moved to Ohio State, Woodard came to Columbus for a camp as a seventh-grader, where he met coach Jim Tressel.

Even though Hazell left to become coach at Kent State and Tressel was forced out for his NCAA transgressions, Woodard’s attraction to Ohio State was unbroken.

If there was any doubt about playing for Urban Meyer, Eastern coach Dan Spittal could vouch for the new Buckeyes coach. One of Spittal’s former players, offensive tackle Phil Trautwein, played on Meyer’s 2006 national championship team at Florida.

When Meyer invited Woodard and his family to visit Ohio State, the deal was clinched.

“Eli came back and said, ‘I’m going to Ohio State,’” Spittal said.

Spittal described the 6-foot-1, 185-pound Woodard as a “silent assassin,” someone who is quiet and humble by nature but sure of himself as a player. Opposing quarterbacks mostly stayed clear of Woodard this season because of his reputation. He has been able to make more of a mark on offense as a receiver.

“This year he’s playing about 115 to 120 snaps a game,” Spittal said. “We try to give him a break, but I’m in charge of the kick team and we’ve got to have him in there. He’s the kind of kid you can’t keep off the field. He’s that good. He’s a special kid.”

Spittal said that also applies to him aside from football. When Woodard returned from an elite Nike camp in Oregon, Spittal said Woodard was almost embarrassed by the attention.

“That, I think, impressed me more than anything about Eli,” Spittal said. “It was just another camp, another tryout, another weekend of football, as opposed to, ‘I’m a pretty big dog because I went to the Nike camp.’”

Woodard’s mother, Annie Apple, said that’s typical of her son.

“He would volunteer at the geriatric center across the street from his high school for a couple of summers, and they didn’t even know he played football,” she said. “He goes in there and is like everyone else.”

Woodard might be unassuming, but he has big dreams of what he hopes
to accomplish with the Buckeyes.

“I want to be a Jim Thorpe Award winner (for the country’s top defensive back), and I want to help my team win a national championship,” he said.